What of It

By JS Venit

Spurs feed the Manhattan Bridge from Sea Beach and Sunset Park.The Jay Street station was inaugurated by Prince Metternich (b1773) in 1915 after his death following the Congress of Effects. You may object Bird but things can happen out of season or just seem to be like gods relaxing their clean triangular flesh. Other examples are the Congress of Mirrors with its magic powders and the Frankfurt parcels lost after weeks spent cruising in the Alps. England remained distasteful earlier in life he met the King there and drew from memory a map composed entirely (or almost so) of vintage stilton. He lingered on in Venice for several uneventful days. Two daughters were crushed to death in Egypt. Galicia remains a distant vision.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669846130

JS Venit

JS Venit was born in New York and emigrated to Belgium in 1980 where he lives and works. His poems have been published in the Partisan review, the American Poetry review, Literary Imagination and the Little Magazine. This is Mr. Venits eleventh collection of poems.

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Copyright © 2022 by JS Venit.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 09/12/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

PART I

FOR YOU

LATE SONATAS

RADAR

THE MAN OF HOUSES

NOSEGAY

POLONAISE

ISPERIA

COCKADE

HEARSAY

AVID BONES AND PLACES

THISTLE

FREE FALL

ZEPHYR

THREE SHORT POEMS

THE PROBLEM WITH HEAVEN

YESTERDAY

HAIKU ON THE WACHAU

TO THE WINDOW WASHER

KO AS IN COBRA

LATE CHOCOLATE STYLE

WHAT OF IT

THE EMPEROR CONCERTO

WHAT IT MEANS

HOUSE OF DREAMS

STEVENS’ CHILDREN

THE UNIVERSE IS FALLING

TWILIGHT OF THE DOORS

THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE

INSIDE THE POETRY BUSINESS

AIRPLANE MUSIC

ORACLES

GHOSTS ON SUNDAY

WINTER’S TALE

THE LAST DAY BC

WELCOMING THE CAT

PART II

SPRING FEVER

THIRTEEN SERIOUS CRIMES

LAIT DE SORCIÈRE

HAIKU

CLOUD CONDITIONS

ALLITERATION

KOREAN SERENADE

POLYPHONIC DOODLES

RIVER OF THE BEES

CRETE

NAUFRAGE

OUT OF THE BLUE

PIANO MACABRE

QUONDAM

GRANT’S HORSES

THE NEW REPUBLIC

CARRIAGE

HOME PRODUCTS

CELLOPHANE

NEW DOORS

DEAD END

WORKS IN PROGRESS

THE LANGUAGE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

SCALES

THE ROAD TO ICE

FOOLSTEPS

CYRILLIC HEROES

OHIO

CAVEAT

THRILLER

PART III

NOW AND THEN

FAUX CHABLIS

WAFFLE

HIATUS

THE BRIDGE

THE VAMPIRE’S TALE

NEIGE FONDANTE

NEWSREEL

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

THE SLEIGHING SONG

RHODE ISLAND

SLIDING SCALES

MASURKA

PANTOUM

SPLIT INFINTIES

RIDDLE

NAUTICAL MILES

ODE TO GOODBYE

LEXICOLOGY

HANDFISH

RANDOM SCRABBLE

CAFÉ DE LA MEUSE

GERUNDS

RUMPELSTILTSKIN

IDEAS OF CHILE

WINTER DAYS

THE PALACE OF TEARFUL DREAMING

SECRETARIES OF THE AIR

WILD BIRDS OF THE OLD DOMINION

MEMORIES OF WOLF

NANA

STORYBOOK ENDINGS

FEATHERS

WALLOP

PART IV

DECIPHERING THE DUST

MY ATELIER

DISQUIETING IMAGES

CANTERBURY FABLES

RUNWAY

GLOBAL WARNING

A FROLIC OF ITS OWN

HALICE IN FEATHERLAND

TWILIGHT OF THE GOTHS

SUI GENEROUS

ICING

FLASHBACK

SPINDLE

VEDETTE

FEBRUARY POEMS

DIALECTICS

DIE FRAGE

THE BREAKWATER OF LIFE

THE ADIRONDACKS

UKASE

LVIV

ANTI-POEM POEM

THE GENIE OF WEIMAR

THE NOOSE OF NOISE

THE APATHETIC FALLACY

TWO DREAMS

POINTILLISM

CHATEAU ZOOM

BARRAGE

POETRY WITHOUT FRONTIERS

RUBBLE THEORY

THE FOUR GENTLEMEN OF WUZHONG

FRECKLED BEAST

CHAOS THEORY

TOURNAGE

EITHER/OR

ÉMINENCES GRISES

SUGGESTED ENDINGS

PART V

THE CHILDREN

EXACT EXCHANGE

THE LAST TRAIN TO

EX POST FACTORS

THE DARK AGES

THE FUGITIVES

CUT AND PASTE

CLAIRE DE LUNE

YES AND MAYBE

YOUR HAND

GOOD NEWS

DISUNITED STATES

SLIDESHOW

RED LEGGINGS

IN THE CLINIC

PADDOK CALLS

THE GRAND INQUISITOR

AFTER

PART VI

THE EASTERN DISTRICT

HARBINGERS OF MAY

ARMS OF THE LAW

HEAVY SEAS

MINISTERS OF INTERFERENCE

EASTER MONDAY

QUIET EVENINGS IN LISBON

PLETHORA

UNDERWATER HERMITAGES

ÉTUDE

ÉTUDE NO. 2

WINDS OF CHANGE

IS CRIMEA SAFE NOW

POPULAR FELONS

FRACTURES

WAR AIMS

ASPIDISTRA

AUSTRALIAN DOUBLES

ANDROGYNY

PART VII

PRISMATIC VARIATIONS

LOBSTER

HALCYON DAYS

EPICENTER

PHOTO FINISH

THE LOOTERS

RED HUMBUG

BLUE MEMENTO

THOUGHTS OF A SALARY MAN

TOLSTOY’S BIRTHDAY

LA SOMNAMBULE

ODE TO THE PESSOAS

SUMMER CLOTHES

A LIFE

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

ROMAN À CLEF

THE WITNESS

FLIGHT TIMES

OVERLOOK PRESS

VOODOO LOVE

Q AND A

FOUR SHORT POEMS

THE QUESTION TO YOUR ANSWER

THANATOPSIS

ACOUSTIC SHADOWS

POETRY AND IMMIGRATION

WAR ZONES

DAYTON FLYERS

THE RUSSIAN QUESTION

TO THE STARS

CATS AT MIDNIGHT

JULES ET JIM

THE FOURTH AVENUE LOCAL

BRUSSELS WEATHER

SHADOW BATHING

DEBRIS

WALLPAPER

PART VIII

CHILDHOOD

THE INVADERS

IN MAFIA COUNTRY

PAPER MISTAKES

PETRUSHKA

WHO KNOWS

SIGHTINGS

MIRRORS

JOSEPH-LOOK-OF-SKY

DANTE STOPS FOR A DAY AT CASALTA

IN THE GRAVEL FACTORY

ADAGIO WITH SLOW CODA

MONDAY MORNING

PUSHKIN AND LERMONTOV

TASHKENT

KALEIDOSCOPE

AFTER THE RAIN

DEEP IN THE COUNTRY

QUASI MODO

REMOTE CONTROL

SHORT STORY

EVERYBODY DREAMS

THUNDER ON THE NEVA

ANGELIKASTRASSE

DREAM PAGES

COUPERIN

SUMMER STANZAS

CAFÉ DU MONDE

MY CRIMINAL PAST

THE NEAR BEYOND

SEGUE

QUANDARY

CANNIBAL POEMS

USELESS BALLADS

For Iryna

The author would again like to thank Tony Towle

for his generous and invaluable assistance.

PART I

FOR YOU

We have lived through

spilled workmen Trump’s

entry into Brussels the taxi

in Florence that never came

(but at least you got to see

the tip of Venice) thunder

over Corfu an uncle’s sudden

death passport renewals my

driving foie gras soup two

plus years of COVID two

startled ophthalmologists

in Berlin panic leaving Chiasso

Anna Karenina and chaos

with the trains in Arezzo

last August.

What have I forgotten

my arbitration in Frankfurt

that we are a couple

that we have survived.

LATE SONATAS

For Iryna

When they start killing poets

you fly up into the mountains

their cries make you receptive

like suites or sudden patches

of blue in clouds like books or

freedom falling into nervous

hands while the singer changes

before your eyes like an ageing

chameleon.

You don’t exist without paper

and this poem has nothing to

do with Beethoven although

you understood how difficult

it was for the left hand to share

a melody with the right. They

say Allah decides but that a man

with one hundred sheep does

as he pleases while you sit there

quietly and dream.

RADAR

Witches stretch their endless

wings and slaughter the literal

like Jeremiahs on Waverly Street.

That way things suddenly become

their own abundant selves bare

feet with shadows condemned to

stay awake all night.

I